Number 11
Chilean writer Roberto Bolaño muses on writing, borders, Latin American literature and the instability of identity in his 1999 acceptance speech for the Gallegos prize. I’ve always had a problem with Venezuela. An infantile problem, fruit of my disorganized education; a minimal problem; but a problem nonetheless. The center of the problem is of a verbal […]
Wrestling With A Warlord
Louis Chude-Sokei narrates a story of Nigeria, of splintered identity, of exile, and of the Biafran War and its godfather – his godfather – the military strategist, strongman and celebrated hero, General Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu I remember thinking how much I looked like him. So much so that, had I been told […]
A Corpse and its Jurisdiction – a letter from Lagos
Akin Adesokan tropes on the detective genre after he stumbles on an unidentified corpse in Oko-Oba. Who does the body belong to? And more importantly who is going to take responsibility for it in a society where bureaucracy and apathy have usurped common human decency? I had some housekeeping assignments around Oko-Oba, near the Abattoir […]
When We Hear the Name of President
Nigerian poet Tanure Ojaide evokes a language of high stakes, hi-jinx, and hybridity, combining code switching with scathing poltical critique to down ‘Mr. Big Belle’. Wetin our eye never see? Dey don see Oba! President na butcher e be for khaki or agbada— cobra-o, viper-o, na snake dem be; murderer na killer no […]
George Osodi
George Osodi is a photographer from “the oil-rich Niger Delta region”. His images documenting the region first brought international attention, as shown in the short film below. A contrasting side to life in his homeland is shown in his body of work – Nigerian Monarchs, this series will be exhibited later in the month in Lagos and […]